Center Of Attention

Chicago South Expo Center Provides A Home For Special Events, From Restaurant Shows To Star Trek Conventions

May 07, 1995|By Michele Mohr. Special to the Tribune.

Less than five minutes before the Greater Chicago Restaurant Show was set to open at noon on a sunny Sunday at the Chicago South Expo Center, a team of pastry chefs was still arranging a display of desserts. Frosting on a slice of cake was smoothed to glossy perfection with a metal spatula as one chef eyed the dessert with a precision usually reserved for land surveyors. Ornate cookies were nimbly placed on colorful china, and drizzles of chocolate decorated the edges of plates.

The brigade of chefs was assisted by a crew of white-coated culinary students from Macomb Community College in Clinton Township, Mich. The students had been at the expo center since dawn creating dishes for an American Culinary Federation competition and were happy to help with simple tasks that kept their minds off the judging going on in a corner of the hall. They carted boxes, lit tapered candles and gathered for a group photo in front of an 800-pound block of ice carved into the shape of a bow.

The Greater Chicago Restaurant Show, which ran from March 11 to 13 at the Chicago South Expo Center, 17040 S. Halsted St., Harvey, is one of the premiere events at the south suburban exposition hall. It is in its sixth year and has grown from a small group of restaurant and hotel displays to a regional show with more than 200 exhibitors of products and services for the restaurant industry.

"This is the kind of show we want for recognition, and we're thrilled with the exposure," said Rich Gartrell, director of the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It dispels the myth about the resources available out here."

"I see this as a symbol of economic revival, as a positive for the city of Harvey," said Mayor David Johnson. "It means a lot to the hotels and restaurants in the south suburban area that the expo center continue to grow and develop."

The restaurant show is only one of 45 events booked at the Expo Center for 1995.

The facility is owned by Deb and Phil Tullier, a Frankfort couple who in 1987 plunged their life savings into the renovation of the hulking former tennis club and turned it into the south suburb's first convention center. "We took out a home equity loan and assumed a $750,000 note from the bank," she said.

Deb Tullier, president of the Expo Center, is a former manufacturer's representative for the Jim Davis cartoon creation Garfield the Cat and attended lots of trade shows in small and large halls across the country.

"We saw a real need for something like this here," she said. "There were lots of hotels, but there weren't any convention centers."

The first event was an HBO-sponsored boxing match in July 1987. They have since hosted job fairs, tackle and fishing shows, quilt displays, baseball card trade-a-thons and an annual "Star Trek" convention that attracts more than 20,000 fans.

Putting a show together takes a lot of time and practice. The Tulliers lease the space to exhibitors and provide tables, decorations, tickets and concession services. In the case of the restaurant show, the Tulliers produce the event and act as the show manager as well as the general contractor.

"We're marketing the expo for smaller restaurants, so it is really a regional show," Deb Tullier said. The Greater Chicago Restaurant Show attracted 10,000 attendees during its three-day run.

Peter Lombardi of the Rosemont Visitors Bureau, which oversees the bookings and operation of the Rosemont Convention Center, the second-largest exposition center in the state, said smaller halls such as the Chicago South Expo Center help fill certain needs in the industry.

"People look at our success and they want to jump on the bandwagon," he added. "But our success stems from our proximity to O'Hare Airport, and we have the total capacity and square footage to handle the very large shows."

Although the 60,000-square-foot hall in Harvey isn't large enough to rival the Rosemont Expo Center, registration records show that events at the Chicago South facility pull in participants from throughout the metropolitan Chicago area and northern Indiana.

"This is just 25 minutes from McCormick Place-where the National Restaurant Show is held-and it's a close shot to Midway and O'Hare airports," Deb Tullier said. The trade show, which is not open to the public, attracts food professionals from "hospitals and schools to gourmet caterers and hot dog stand owners," she said.

Preparations begin a year before the show. According to Phil Tullier, 42, a former tool-and-die maker who took over the operational end of the expo center, a floor plan is in place for the next year's event before the current show has ended.

"But changes are made up to the last second," he said. "You want to be accommodating. You want to make sure an exhibitor isn't staring across the aisle at his competition."